1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to fitness, health, training, developmental, rehabilitation, and sporting equipment and, more particularly, to balance boards.
2. Related Art
The importance of lower body balance for basic movement and injury prevention is supported by the training devices and force plates designed to quantify an individual's balance. Balance boards have long been used in the rehabilitation industry and for child motor skill development. There are different types of balance boards designed for ease of use or advanced skill. The balance board industry has recently gained attention from action sport enthusiasts, sport conditioning professionals, and the personal fitness industry.
A balance board requiring low skill level has an elongated or multiple fixed fulcrum points secured to the underside of a standing platform and allows movement in a side-to side or front-to-back direction. These balance boards, also known as rocker boards, are useful for individuals who have little balance ability and require an exercise with low level of skill. A balance board with a half sphere fulcrum allows movement in front, side, and diagonal directions. These types of balance boards are known as wobble boards. Transverse movement may be achieved if the user rotates the body. The skill level is more advanced than a rocker board and appropriate for an individual requiring balance skill simultaneously in three planes. While rocker and wobble boards are useful to train balance, they do not mimic actual sport movement that simultaneously combines all planes of unrestricted motion. Most of the standing platforms are also small in diameter or size and do not allow a wide stance for tall users.
Balance boards that incorporate greater instability and sport-like training are designed for advanced users. Advanced skill balance boards incorporate a movable fulcrum along the underside of a standing platform. This allows linear movement from side-to-side or front-to-back of the board on an unstable fulcrum. These fulcrums, or rollers, all have a common cylinder shape. The boards only allow side-to-side or front-to-back motion and make simultaneous movement in the sagital and frontal planes difficult or impossible. These types of balance boards are useful training devices for those with advanced skill. The cylindrical fulcrum also does not allow great movement in all planes simultaneously. Some balance boards incorporate end stops which limit the amount of rolling space for the cylinder fulcrum. A deficiency of adjustable end stops requires a screwdriver to remove screws. It is cumbersome to remove screws and replace the screws into a wooden board and hole that may strip over time and become ineffective at securing an end stop.
Advanced balance boards also incorporate a freely movable sphere along the underside length and width of the standing platform to allow greater mastery of skill and sport specific movement. The sphere gives the rider an unstable surface in front, side, and diagonal directions. It is advantageous to provide one balance board that allows a wide range of progression from a fixed fulcrum to a freely movable fulcrum to challenge balance in the transverse, sagital, and frontal planes. Current balance boards are using an air filled bladder as the fulcrum. This is problematic because the air filled bladder warps and becomes ineffective over time.
Some typical conventional balance boards can be classified based on (1) fixed elongated fulcrum, (2) fixed half sphere fulcrum, (3) adjustable fixed fulcrum, (4) fixed fulcrum with separate foot platforms, (5) two separate fixed fulcrums with one standing platform, (6) free moving, or rotating, cylindrical fulcrum contained to balance platform, (7) free moving cylindrical fulcrum on guide rail, (8) free moving cylindrical fulcrum on guide rail with adjustable end stops, (9) free moving cylindrical fulcrum without guide rail with fixed end stops, (10) free moving cylindrical fulcrum without guide rail with adjustable end stops, (11) free moving cylindrical fulcrum without guide rail and without end stops, (12) surfing simulators, (13) free moving sphere fulcrum with fixed end stops, and (14) balance boards with attachable weight systems.
In one, both standing platforms are used on top of a freely moving sphere to create the unstable standing surface. Different holes and recessed configurations for which the sphere would be placed have been used to give different degrees of difficulty. Also, a separate sphere contained on the underside of a sombrero shaped board is known. A current market balance board of similar design is the Balance 360° which has a flat standing platform and a circular retaining ring centered on the underside of the standing platform. The sphere fulcrum is contained within the circular retaining ring. A deficiency of this design is that an inflatable bladder used as the fulcrum which depresses and warps over time or when a heavy load is placed upon the standing platform. Secondly, the fixed retaining ring limits the amount of available fulcrum rolling space to the center of the board rather than using the entire board length. The retaining ring does not include adjustable end stops.
Therefore, there is a need for a balancing board that overcomes disadvantages of conventional balancing boards discussed above.